in october 1906 i took up my duties as correspondent to the morning post at st. petersburg. i took an apartment on the ground floor of a little street running out of the bolshaya konioushnaya.
the situation which was created by the dissolution of the duma was aptly summed up by a japanese, who said that in russia an incompetent government was being opposed by an ineffectual revolution. although no active revolution followed the dissolution of the duma, a sporadic civil war spread all over the country, accompanied by anarchy, and an epidemic of political and social crime. governors of provinces were blown up; stolypin’s house was blown up, his daughter injured, and he himself only narrowly escaped; banks were robbed; policemen were shot; and the political crimes of the intellectuals were imitated on a wider scale by the discontented proletariat and the criminal class.
the professional criminals reasoned thus: “if university students can rob a bank in a deserving public cause, why should not we tramps rob and kill a banker in a deserving private cause?” “expropriation” became a fashionable sport among the criminals, and the prevalence of anarchy, licence, and robbery under arms had the effect of disgusting the man in the street with all things revolutionary; for all the disorder was rightly or wrongly put down to the revolutionaries. had it not been for this reaction, this turn of the tide in public opinion, stolypin would have found it impossible to carry out his drastic measures. on the other hand, the government met the situation with martial law and drumhead court-martials; revolutionary and other crimes were answered by reprisals and summary executions; and daily the record of crime and punishment increased, and russia[357] seemed to be caught in a vicious circle of repression and anarchy.
the watchword of stolypin’s policy was order first, reform afterwards.
he defended the nature of the steps taken to restore order by saying that when a house is on fire, in order to save what can be saved, you are obliged to hack down what cannot be saved, ruthlessly. he certainly did restore order, and he also initiated certain large measures which made for reform—his land bill and his education bill; but all the reforms that were started during his administration were curtailed by his successors; and the idea which ran through the policy of all russian governments like a baleful thread from 1906 to 1907, was to take back with one hand what had been given with the other.
consequently the fire of discontent, instead of being extinguished, was maintained in a smouldering condition.
the manifesto of 30th october 1904 promised, firstly, the creation of a deliberative and legislative assembly, without whose consent no new laws should be passed; and secondly, the full rights of citizenship—the inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, the right of organising public meetings, and founding associations.
practically speaking, in the years which followed the granting of this charter until the revolution of 1917, these promises were either not carried out at all, or were only allowed to operate in virtue of temporary regulations which were (a) liable to constant amendment; (b) could be interpreted by local officials.
stolypin’s policy of “order first, reform afterwards,” had two results: firstly, as soon as order was restored by stolypin, all ideas of reform were shelved by his successors. stolypin himself was assassinated. secondly, in the eyes of the administration criticism became the greatest crime, because criticism was held to be subversive to the prestige of the government. the officials, and especially the secret police, throve and battened on this situation. accordingly, as order was restored material prosperity increased; but this was a palliative and not a remedy to the fundamental discontent. it only led to moral stagnation.
in the autumn of 1906, while this cycle of anarchy on the one hand and repression on the other was setting in, elections[358] were held for another duma. i had a long talk one day with stolypin himself. he struck me as a man of character, absolute integrity, rigid? innocenti?, and great personal courage. but he had come too late on the scene of russian politics. he would have been an admirable minister in the reign of alexander the second, or alexander the third. as it was, he was engaged not in diverting a torrent into a useful and profitable channel, but in damming it. he succeeded in damming it temporarily; but the dam was bound to be swept away, and he paid for the work with his own life.
during the winter i saw a great many russians; members of the duma used to come and dine with me, and i was in close touch with the political life. but the most interesting experience i had that winter was a journey i made to the north. i will describe it in detail.
i meant to go to archangel, and i started for vologda at night. the battle for a place in the third-class carriage was fought and won for me by a porter. when i stepped into the third-class carriage it was like entering pandemonium. it was almost dark, save for a feeble candle that guttered peevishly over the door, and all the inmates were yelling and throwing their boxes and baskets and bundles about. this was only the process of installation; it all quieted down presently, and everyone seated himself with his bed unfolded, if he had one, his luggage stowed away, his provisions spread out, as if he had been living there for years, and meant to remain there for many years to come.
this particular carriage was full. the people in it were workmen going home for the winter, peasants, merchants, and mechanics. opposite to my seat were two workmen (painters), and next to them a peasant with a big grey beard. sitting by the farther window was a well-dressed mechanic. the painter lighted a candle and stuck it on a small movable table that projected from my window; he produced a small bottle of vodka from his pocket, a kettle for tea, and some cold sausage, and general conversation began. the guard came to tell the people who had come to see their friends off—there were numbers of them in the carriage, and they were most of them drunk—to go. the guard looked at my ticket for vologda and asked me where i was ultimately going to. i said: “viatka,” upon which the mechanic said: “so am i; we will go together and[359] get our tickets together at vologda.” the painter and the mechanic engaged in conversation, and it appeared that they both came from kronstadt. the painter had worked there for twenty years, and he cross-questioned the mechanic with evident pleasure, winking at me every now and then. the mechanic went into the next compartment for a moment, and the painter then said to me with glee: “he is lying; he says he has worked in kronstadt, and he doesn’t know where such and such things are.” the mechanic came back. “who is the commandant at kronstadt?” asked the painter. the mechanic evidently did not know, and gave a name at random. the painter laughed triumphantly and said that the commandant was someone else. then the mechanic volunteered further information to show his knowledge of kronstadt; he talked of another man who worked there—a tall man; the painter said that the man was short. the mechanic said that he was employed in the manufacture of shells. they talked of disorders at kronstadt that had happened a year before. the painter said that he and his son lay among cabbages while the fighting was going on. he added that the matter had nearly ended in the total destruction of kronstadt. “god forbid!” said the peasant sitting next to me. no sympathy was expressed with the mutineers. the painter at last told the mechanic that he had lived for twenty years at kronstadt, and that he, the mechanic, was a liar. the mechanic protested feebly. he was an obvious liar, but why he told these lies i have no idea. perhaps he was not a mechanic at all. possibly he was a spy. he professed to be a native of a village near viatka, and declared that he had been absent for six years (the next evening he said twelve years).
from this question of disorders at kronstadt the talk veered, i forget how, to the topic of the duma. “which duma?” someone asked; “the town duma?” “no, the state duma,” said the mechanic; “it seems they are going to have a new one.” “nothing will come of it,” said the painter; “people will not go.” (he meant the voters.) “no, they won’t go,” said the peasant, cutting the air with his hand (a gesture common to nearly all russians of that class), “because they know now that it means being put in prison.” “yes,” said the painter, “they are hanging everybody.” and there was a knowing chorus of: “they won’t go and vote; they know[360] better.” then the mechanic left his seat and sat down next to the painter and said in a whisper: “the government?” at that moment the guard came in; the mechanic stopped abruptly, and when the guard went out, the topic of conversation had been already changed. i heard no further mention of the duma during the whole of the rest of the journey to vologda. the people then began to prepare to go to sleep, except the peasant, who told me that he often went three days together without sleep, but when he did sleep it was a business to wake him. he asked me if his bundle of clothes was in my way. “we are a rough people,” he said, “but we know how not to get in the way. i am not going far.” i was just going to sleep when i was wakened by a terrific noise in the next compartment. someone opened the door, and the following scraps of shouted dialogue were audible. a voice: “did you say i was drunk or did you not?” second voice (obviously the guard): “i asked for your ticket.” first voice: “you said i was drunk. you are a liar.” second voice: “you have no right to say i am a liar. i asked for your ticket.” first voice: “you are a liar. you said i was drunk. i will have you discharged.” this voice then recited a long story to the public in general. the next day i learnt that the offended man was a lawyer, one of the bourgeoisie (a workman explained to me), and that the guard had, in the dark, asked him for his ticket, and then, as he made no sign of life, had pinched his foot; this having proved ineffectual, he said that the man was drunk; whereupon the man started to his feet and became wide awake in a moment. eventually a gendarme was brought in, a “protocol” was drawn up, in which both sides of the story were written down, and there, i expect, the matter will remain until the day of judgment.
i afterwards made the acquaintance of two men in the next compartment; they were dock labourers, and their business was to load ships in kronstadt. they were exactly like the people whom gorki describes. one of them gave me a description of his mode of life in summer and winter. in summer he loaded ships; in winter he went to a place near archangel and loaded carts with wood; when the spring came, he went back, by water, to st. petersburg. he asked me what i was. i said that i was an english correspondent. he asked then what i travelled in. i said i was not that kind of correspondent,[361] but a newspaper correspondent. here he called a third friend, who was sitting near us, and said; “come and look; there is a correspondent here. he is an english correspondent.” the friend came—a man with a red beard and a loose shirt with a pattern of flowers on it. “i don’t know you,” said the new man. “no; but let us make each other’s acquaintance,” i said. “you can talk to him,” explained the dock labourer; “we have been talking for hours; although he is plainly a man who has received higher education.” “as to whether he has received higher or lower education we don’t know,” said the friend, “because we haven’t yet asked him.” then he paused, reflected, shook hands, and exclaimed: “now we know each other.” “but,” said the dock labourer, “how do you print your articles? do you take a printing press with you when you go, for instance, to the north, like you are doing now?” i said they were printed in london, and that i did not have to print them myself. “please send me one,” he said; “i will give you my address.” “but it’s written in english,” i answered. “you can send me a translation in russian,” he retorted.
“english ships come to kronstadt, and we load them. the men on board do not speak russian, but we understand each other. for instance, we load, and their inspector comes. we call him ‘inspector’ (i forget the russian word he used, but it was something like skipador); they call him the ‘come on.’ the ‘come on’ comes, and he says, ‘that’s no good’ (‘niet dobrò’[14]); he means not right (nié horosho), and then we make it right. and when their sailors come, we ask them for matches. when we have food, what we call coshevar, they call it ‘all right.’ and when we finish work, what we call shabash (it means ‘all over’), they call ‘seven o’clock.’ they bring us matches that light on anything,” and here he produced a box of english matches and lit a dozen of them just to show. “when we are raggèd, they say, ‘no clothes, plenty vodka,’ and when we are well dressed, they say, ‘no plenty-vodka, plenty-clothes.’ their vodka,” he added, “is very good.” then followed an elaborate comparison of the wages and conditions of life of russian and english workmen. another man joined in, and being told about the correspondent, said: “i would like to read your writings, because we are a rough people[362] and we read only the pieterbourski listok, which is, so to speak, a ‘black-gang’ (reactionary) newspaper. heaven knows what is happening in russia! they are hanging, shooting, and bayoneting everyone.” then he went away. the dock labourer went on for hours talking about the “come on,” the “all right,” and the “seven o’clock.”
i went back to my berth and slept, till the dock labourer came and fetched me, and said that i had to see the soldiers. i went into the next compartment, and there were two soldiers; one was dressed up, that is to say he had put on spectacles and a pocket-handkerchief over his head, and was giving an exhibition of mimicry, of recruits crying as they left home, of mothers-in-law, and other stock jokes. it was funny, and it ended in general singing. a sailor came to look on. he was a non-commissioned officer, and he told me in great detail how a meeting at sveaborg had been put down. he said that the loyal sailors had been given 150 roubles (￡15) apiece to fight. i think he must have been exaggerating. at the same time he expressed no sympathy with the mutineers. he said that rights were all very well for countries such as finland. but in russia they only meant disorder, and as long as the disorder lasted, russia would be a feeble country. he had much wanted to go to the war, but he had not been able to. in fact, he was thoroughly loyal and bien pensant.
we arrived at vologda station some time in the evening. the station was crowded with peasants. while i was watching the crowd, a drunken peasant entered and asked everybody to give him ten kopecks. then he caught sight of me, and said that he was quite certain i would give him ten kopecks. i did, and he danced a kind of wild dance and finally collapsed on the floor. a man was watching these proceedings, a fairly respectably dressed man in a pea-jacket. he began to talk to me, and said that he had just come back from manchuria, where he had been employed at mukden station. “in spite of which,” he added, “i have not yet received a medal.” i said that i had been in manchuria. he said he lived twenty versts up the line, and came to the station to look at the people—it was so amusing. “have you any acquaintances here?” he asked. i said, “no.” “then let us go and have tea.” i was willing, and we went to the tea-shop, which was exactly opposite the station. “here,” said the man, “we will talk of what was,[363] of what is, and of what is to be.” as we were walking in, a policeman who was standing by the door whispered in my ear: “i shouldn’t go in there with that gentleman.” “why?” i asked. “well, he’s not quite reliable,” he answered in the softest of whispers. “how?” i asked. “well, he killed a man yesterday and then robbed him,” said the policeman. i hurriedly expressed my regret to my new acquaintance, and said that i must at all costs return to the station. “the policeman has been lying to you,” said the man. “it’s a lie; it’s only because i haven’t got a passport.” (this was not exactly a recommendation in itself.) i went into the first-class waiting-room. the man came and sat down next to me, and now that i examined his face i saw that he had the expression and the stamp of countenance of a born thief. one of the waiters came and told him to go, and he flatly refused, and the waiter made a low bow to him. then, gently but firmly, i advised him to go away, as it might lead to trouble. he finally said: “all right, but we shall meet in the train, in liberty.” he went away, but he sent an accomplice, who stood behind my chair. he, too, had the expression of a thief.
after waiting for several hours i approached the train for yaroslav. just as i was getting in, a small boy came up to me and said in a whisper: “the policeman sent me to tell you that the man is a well-known thief, that he robs people every day, and that he gets into the train, even into the first-class carriages, and robs people, and he is after you now.” i entered a first-class carriage and told the guard there was a thief about. i had not been there long before the accomplice arrived and began walking up and down the corridor. but the guard, i am happy to say, turned him out instantly, and i saw nothing more of the thief or of his accomplice.
a railway company director, or rather a man who was arranging the purchase of a line, got into the carriage and began at once to harangue me about the government and say that the way in which it had changed the election law was a piece of insolence and would only make everybody more radical. then he told me that life in yaroslav was simply intolerable, because all newspapers and all free discussion had been stopped. we arrived at yaroslav on the next morning. i went on to moscow in a third-class carriage. the train stopped at every small station, and there was a constant flow of people coming and[364] going. an old gentleman of the middle class sat opposite to me for a time, and read a newspaper in an audible whisper. whenever he came to some doings of the government he said: “disgraceful, disgraceful!”
later on in the day a boy of seventeen got into the train. he carried a large box. i was reading a book by gogol, and had put it down for a moment on the seat. he took it up and said: “i am very fond of reading books.” i asked him how he had learnt. he said he had been at school for one year, and had then learnt at home. he could not stay at school as he was the only son, his father was dead, and he had to look after his small sisters; he was a stone quarrier, and life was very hard. he loved reading. in winter the mouzhiks came to him and he read aloud to them. his favourite book was called ivan mazeppa. what that work may be, i did not know. i gave him my gogol. i have never seen anyone so pleased. he began to read it—at the end—then and there, and said it would last for several evenings. when he got out he said: “i will never forget you,” and he took out of his pocket a lot of sunflower seeds and gave them to me. as we neared moscow the carriage was fuller and fuller. two peasants had no railway tickets. one of them asked me if i would lend my ticket to him to show the guard. i said: “with pleasure; only, my ticket is for moscow and yours is for the next station.” when the guard came, one of the peasants gave him 30 kopecks. “that is very little for two of you,” the guard said. they had been travelling nearly all the way from yaroslav; but finally he let them be. we arrived at moscow in the evening.
i travelled back to st. petersburg in a third-class carriage, which was full of recruits. “they sang all the way” (as jowett said about the poetical but undisciplined undergraduate[15] whom he drove home from a dinner-party) “bad songs—very bad songs.” not quite all the way, however. they were like schoolboys going to a private school, putting on extra assurance. in the railway carriage there was a zemstvo “feldsher,” a hospital orderly, who had been through the war. we talked of the war. while we were discussing it, a young peasant who was in the carriage joined in, and startled us by his sensible and acute observations on the war. “there’s a man,” said the feldsher to me, “who has a good head. it is sheer natural cleverness.[365] that’s what a lot of the young peasants are like. and what will become of him? if only these people could be developed!” a little later i began to read a small book. “are you reading lermontov?” asked the feldsher, “no,” i answered, “i am reading shakespeare’s sonnets.” “ah,” he said, with a sigh, “you are evidently not a married man, but perhaps you are engaged to be married?”
just as i was preparing to sleep, the guard came and began to search the corners and the floor of the carriage with a candle, as if he had dropped a pin or a penny. he explained that there were twelve recruits in the carriage, but that an extra man had got in with them and that he was looking for him. he then went away. one of the recruits explained to me that the man was under one of the seats, and hidden by boxes, as he wished to go to st. petersburg without a ticket. i went to sleep. but the guard came back and turned me carefully over to see if i was the missing man. then he began to look again in the most unlikely places for a man to be hid. he gave up the search twice, but the hidden man could not resist putting out his head to see what was happening, and before he could get it back the guard coming in at that moment caught sight of him. the man was turned out, but he got into the train again, and the next morning it was discovered that he had stolen one of the recruits’ boxes and some article of property from nearly everybody in the carriage, including hats and coats. this he had done while the recruits slept, for when they stopped singing and went to sleep they slept soundly. later in the night, a huge and old peasant entered the train and crept under the seat opposite to me. the guard did not notice him, and after the tickets had been collected from the passengers who got in at that station, the man crept out, and lay down on one of the higher berths. he remained there nearly all night, but at one of the stations the guard said: “is there no one for this station?” and looking at the peasant, added: “where are you for, old man?” the man mumbled in pretended sleep. “where is your ticket?” asked the guard. no answer. at last when the question had been repeated thrice, he said: “i am a poor, little, old man.” “you haven’t got a ticket,” said the guard. “get out, devil; you might lose me my place—and i a married man. devil! devil! devil!” “it is on account of my extreme poverty,” said the old man, and he was turned out.
[366]
the next morning i had a long conversation with the young peasant who, the feldsher said, had brains. i asked him, among other things, if he thought the government was right in relying on what it called the innate and fundamental conservatism of the great mass of the russian people. “if the government says that the whole of the peasantry is conservative, it lies,” he said. “it is true that a great part of the people is rough—uneducated—but there are many who know. the war opened our eyes. you see, the russian peasant is accustomed to be told by the authorities that a glass (taking up my tumbler) is a man, and to believe it. the army is on the side of the government. at least it is really on the side of the people, but it feels helpless. the government will never yield except to force. there is nothing to be done.” we talked of other things. the recruits joined in the conversation, and i offered a small meat patty to one of them, who said: “no, thank you. i am greatly satisfied with you as it is, without your giving me a meat patty.”
the theft which had taken place in the night was discussed from every point of view. “we took pity on him and we hid him,” they said, “and he robbed us.” they spoke of it without any kind of bitterness or grievance, and nobody said:
“i told you so.” then we arrived at st. petersburg.
